Snarl And The World Snarls With You [Review: The Snarling]

A film crew set up in a quiet village and start making their zombie movie, to the amusement of the locals - but a series of gory murders, committed during the full moon, draws the interest of the local police.

The Snarling was first screened at Horror-On-Sea in 2016 and has been brought back for a new screening in 2018 by popular demand. It's a well written, well produced comedy horror in the vein of Shaun of the Dead - light on gore, although there are some bloody moments, and heavy on jokes. The script features many colourful and funny characters amongst the film crew, the locals and the police - the fool archetype recurs in all three groups and there's a constant stream of jokes based on misunderstandings that is just to my taste. There are also plenty of visual gags including some extremely witty editing choices. Laurence Saunders stands out for playing two very different comedy characters - Greg, the male diva actor, and Les, the village fool who happens to be his doppelganger. Director Pablo Reybould also appears in the film as a food-obsessed police chief.

Horror-on-Sea features films made by passionate, creative filmmakers and from what I've seen the focus is definitely on films that are enjoyable to watch as opposed to professionally produced. However The Snarling is both and as such deserves wider recognition and circulation, perhaps a theatrical release - it could definitely hold its own against Shaun.

Gallery Update [Reply To All]

While post-production continues on comedy short Reply To All, taking on board some very helpful suggestions from our producer's trip to Cannes, you can check out the film's website here - including lots of new photos from the production weekend. It's been a long journey from the Kickstarter campaign to here, and there's still a lot of hard work to come, but based on the most recent cut, I can confirm that thanks to some excellent editing, the final film will be around 10 minutes long, and it will be awesome.

"Reply To All" Post Production

Work continues on "Reply To All" - following the live shoot we've had two voiceover recording sessions and I've been working with our editor Oliver Cross on the rough cut. Watch out for more detailed updates on the Caramie Films website and facebook page very soon.

Reply To All Production Weekend - Update 3

Job done! (for now...) We wrapped the Reply To All shoot on Sunday evening after two full-on days in a hotel suite in Richmond. The biggest challenges were the time pressure - we had a lot of material to get through and it was a constant battle to get everything done while there was still enough daylight, and the continuity issues: our heroine Becki accumulates damage of sorts throughout the film so her appearance had to be right for each scene.

Actress Tracey Pickup prepares for a tricky POV shot

High points of the weekend were several difficult shots we managed to pull off, some in the original plan, others improvised on the day. A low point was on day two where, running out of time to complete the shot list I found myself demanding that Nick, the scriptwriter, come up with a shorter re-write of one scene on the fly. He came through - we completed the shoot and the rest will soon be cinematic history. Having the writer stay on as an integral member of the production crew is worthwhile even if it's not the Hollywood way...

DOP Oliver Cross sets up for a dolly shot. The Indie Dolly system seen here is far superior to my own homemade version (description here and here, tracking demo here). 

I'll post more thoughts and pictures from this shoot soon, and watch for more news on the Caramie website too. Meanwhile production continues - the next step is the voice-over recording session, then animation and editing will be taking place over the next few weeks and months. Thanks again to all the backers who made this production possible.

Audition Video [Reply To All]

Tracey Pickup, who will star as Becki in Reply To All - clips from audition video.

The Reply To All fundraising campaign is in it's final 6 days. Thanks to the generosity of those of you who have already backed us, and to those of you who have been spreading the word, so far we have raised £2,000 in pledges but still have some way to go: the clock is ticking and, under Dragon's Den Kickstarter rules, we will only receive the funds pledged if we reach our goal. Please check out our campaign here and, if you like the idea of Reply To All then please consider backing us. And of course please get in touch if you'd like to know anything about the film or the campaign.

A selection of the rewards available to backers: but check out the campaign for the full list.

Message from Becki our bride-to-be [Reply To All]

A video message from Tracey Pickup, the actress who will be playing Becki, the lead role and only non-animated character in our short film "Reply To All." To find out more about Tracey, our film and the rewards you can get by backing us, come join us over at Kickstarter

http://kck.st/1aX5EL0

and help us make this film awesome!

"Reply To All" Campaign Trailer

Crowd-funding campaign videos aren't supposed to be as funny as this! Watch our chucklesome 3 minute trailer for "Reply To All" and:

i) if we make you laugh once, maybe consider backing us

ii) if we make you laugh twice, give some serious thought to backing us

iii) if we make you laugh three times, reach down the back of the sofa and give us whatever you can spare After all, if we can be this funny in the campaign, just think how hilarious the actual film will be :-)

And please, please, please share us with your friends....

http://kck.st/1aX5EL0

- the "Reply To All" production team

Coming Soon To Your Inbox [Reply To All]

Coming soon: "Reply To All" - a short comedy written by Nick Boocock and produced by Sophie Caramigeas / Caramie Productions. I will be directing, and working with artist Jeremy Hay to produce the animated sequences. There's a main shoot in January 2014 and the film should be complete March 2014. There's more info on the Caramie website here: no poster yet but watch this space.

There will be a Kickstarter campaign for this film. I directed a campaign video a couple of weeks ago with the production team and it's with the editor now for some final touches - we're planning to go live in the next couple of weeks. So you'll be spoiled for choice - you can follow progress on this film here at the Sci-Fi Gene, on the Caramie website, on Twitter and on Kickstarter.

We've been auditioning for the main part as well - somehow we managed to get the original 450+ applications down to just the 6 we met with yesterday. I'm impressed by all of our final 6, it will be difficult to choose. Meanwhile I'm also working with our artist to develop the animated supporting cast.

More updates on this project soon.

Quiet Revolution [Review: Robot And Frank]

Frank Langella plays Frank, an elderly man in the very near future starting to struggle to look after himself. His hard working but distant son buys him a robot butler to help him around the house and to look after him, but Frank is a retired cat-burglar and discovers that the robot is perfectly capable of helping him re-start his career.

Robot and Frank is a gentle and funny film about our relationships with each other and with technology. One of Frank's favourite haunts is the library where he goes to flirt with the chief librarian (Susan Sarandon), but things are changing: books are becoming obsolete, the librarian is now accompanied by her own robot helper who she has named "Mr. Darcy" and the library has been bought by a young entrepreneur who wants to turn it into an "experience."

There are some excellent performances particularly from Langella and Sarandon, and this is a touching film, particularly as you gradually realise just how much Frank's memory has been affected. Also despite the fact that the robot in this film is portrayed as non-sentient, it's still very clear that one could become emotionally attached to it and consider it a friend.

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" Screening: SHORTz

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" will be screened at SHORTz short film and music night on 2nd June at East Bloc, Hoxton. Details here.

Written Off

Written Off, a short comedy directed by Sophie Caramigeas. My contribution to this film is small - just the titles and credits animation. Expect to see some exciting things from the producers, Caramie and Tiger Dreams, over the coming year.

Late Nights And Love Bites [LIFF Preview: A Little Bit Zombie]

Dying was easy. It’s getting married that’s the killer.

Another LIFF highlight for sci-fi fans: A Little Bit Zombie, directed by Casey Walker, will be at the London Independent Film Festival on 18th April. Finally someone has made a romantic comedy with brains.


A Little Bit Zombie - Trailer from A Little Bit Zombie on Vimeo.

A Little Bit Zombie is the second part of a LIFF double bill: it follows the LIFF Music Video selection, including my own video for "2007" by Tenderstar.

Catpocalypse Now

Coming up to the shoot for a new short sci-fi film, Bast: Secrets of Cat Training, in a few days. A gorgeous cat called Paddington will be making an appearance in a key role - we've cast him as a cat although I hope in future productions he will broaden his range a bit... I carried out the recce and met with the animal trainer earlier this week which was very reassuring. As with all my film projects I hope to learn a lot from doing this, and for each film to be a little better than the last.

There's still a lot to do in the next few days mainly in prop acquisition & construction, and this is quite a challenging project - of course anything can still happen. I'm working with a small but fantastic cast & crew so am feeling cautiously optimistic about this one. No photos today but I'll post updates and photos when I can.